Mummy’s Sad Day – a short story

Earlier in the year I wrote a short story for my children, to try to provide some comfort & explanation for a difficult season I was going through.

I share it today for World Mental Health Day and hope it might be a useful tool for someone else who may stumble across it.

Mummy was sad today. I saw her crying and I didn’t know why she was crying.

She hadn’t fallen over and hurt herself and nobody had been unkind to her.

And me and my brother and sister were being quite good and we weren’t fighting much.

I gave mummy a hug and she rested her head on mine and hugged me back. I think she liked my hug very much.

I think it helped her. Just like her hugs help me when I feel sad.

Mummy smiled at me and said, “thank you” very gently.

And she told me that she loved me. And she told me that she was okay. And she told me that I don’t need to feel worried about her. I am glad that she told me I didn’t need to worry because I was starting to feel worried a bit.

Mummy said that she was just feeling a little bit sad today.

People sometimes get sad when they lose something. Like their favourite teddy or a photograph that is very special.

Sometimes people lose somebody else. That doesn’t mean they can’t find them. It means that they aren’t even here anymore.

My Grandpa isn’t here anymore. My mummy lost him when she was a little girl, like me. I think that still makes her sad sometimes.

There is a big word for it, called grieving. Mummy says that is when you let yourself feel all the bad bits so that you can make more room inside you to feel the good bits again.

She said if you don’t let the bad bits out they can get stuck and then you have to carry them around.

A bit like carrying a ginormous rucksack but on the inside of you, like wearing a bag inside your chest or something.

That would feel very heavy and not very comfy. And I think it would be quite hard to dance….

Or to skip…..

Or to run…..

So I think it is important that we try and let the bad bits out, too.

And if mummy needs to cry sometimes, to let out the bad bits, then I think that is okay. Because I would like mummy to have lots of room inside her to feel all the good bits again.

All the happy bits…

The fun bits…

The dancing, skipping, running bits.

And I think mummy would like that, too.

So if you ever see your mummy being sad, try not to worry.

Remember that she will not always be sad and that she is just making some more space for the good bits.

And give her a hug. Because hugs always help.

I’m not going to be afraid when I feel the bad bits. I am going to let myself feel sad for a little while so that I make loads of room inside me for happy, bright, shiny, skippy, sparkly, jumpy, bouncy, boingy, rainbow, running, magic, dancy bits!

And I will tell my mummy. Because I like mummy’s hugs a lot!